Tom

I can’t imagine why any landlord would want to start a tenancy without taking the full deposit in cleared funds up-front but I did notice that the recently re-vamped DPS website now accepts multiple payments for a deposit so perhaps it is something landlords and agents do (for whatever reason) but how does this fit…

There is no legal definition of a bedroom but the short answer is if a room has a floor area of less than 50 square feet overcrowding may be an issue. We have all viewed properties where the 3rd of 4th ‘bedroom’ is not big enough to swing a cat so what are the space…

This question regularly crops up at the end of a tenancy. The House of Lords defined fair wear and tear as “Reasonable use of the premises by the Tenant and the ordinary operation of natural forces“. The ‘natural forces’ being sunlight, rain, wind and ageing. Whilst there is no one legal definition of damage it…

The legal requirements for tenancy deposit protection is covered within the Housing Act 2004 as amended by Localism Act 2011. The requirement to supply information is detailed further within the Housing (Tenancy Deposits)(Prescribed Information) Order 2007  (SI 2007, No.797). Irrespective of what some letting agents may tell you they too have legal duties that are…

There are no laws that specifically mention landlord’s or tenant’s responsibilities for trees and it is usually dependent on the Tenancy Agreement to decide. Trees are technically part of the ‘property’ the tenant is renting. For a range of reasons ‘generally’ tenants are not good at maintaining gardens. The idea of sitting on a groomed…

In England & Wales, there are two routes to achieve a safe and legal installation: 1. Installation by a HETAS registered installer When a HETAS registered engineer has completed an installation, they self-certify their work as compliant with legal requirements. The consumer will receive a HETAS Certificate of Compliance and the installation is notified to…

Anyone employed to work on gas appliances in domestic premises must be a Gas Safe registered engineer and competent in that area of gas work. The gas engineer’s competencies are clearly marked on the back of the engineer’s Gas Safe Register ID card. If in any doubt you can ring Gas Safe Register 0800 408…

New research shows that the average length of time a rental property is unoccupied in the UK rental property is three weeks, the longest period since the beginning of 2011. The figures come from the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) which is suggesting landlords take action to avoid these empty ‘void’ periods. “Void periods…

Contrary to popular opinion amongst gas engineers the installation of CO detectors is not yet (May 2012) law. The Household Safety (Carbon Monoxide Detectors) Bill 2010-12 had it’s first reading in the House of Commons on 3rd November 2011 so at some point in the future all homes will need to have a detector fitted.…

There is a lot of mis-information and ignorance around this topic so here is a quick guide. Gas safety in property is covered by the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 Duties of landlords are covered in Part F, Regulation 36 (found here) Very briefly the regulations require that every landlord shall ensure that:…